Next Space Station Crew Will Launch Nov. 14, NASA Says

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NASA and the Russian Federal Space Agency have agreed on a Nov.
14 date for the first manned Soyuz rocket launch since the
failure of a similar booster carrying a robotic cargo ship last
month.

The decision follows an investigation by Russian space officials
to identify the
source of that failure and ensure it won't plague future
launches, NASA announced today (Sept. 15). It also clears the way
for a new three-man crew to launch on the Soyuz to the
International Space Station, sustaining the orbiting lab's
10-year streak for a continuous human presence in space.

"Our Russian colleagues have completed an amazing amount of work
in a very short time to determine root cause and develop a
recovery plan that allows for a safe return to flight,"
International Space Station program manager Michael Suffredini
said in a statement.

The accident forced NASA and Russian space officials to consider
evacuating the International Space Station if the Russian
rockets could not be proved safe in time to launch the next crew.
The six astronauts currently living on the station are due to
return in September and mid-November. Three members of the crew
will land overnight tonight (Sept. 15) at 12 a.m. EDT.

In the wake of this summer's retirement of NASA's space shuttles,
the Soyuz is the only means of transportation for people to the
station.

Now, it appears unlikely that the outpost will have to be left
without a crew.

"Our top priority is the safety of our crew members," Suffredini
said. "The plan approved today, coupled with the conditions on
orbit, allow the partnership to support this priority while
ensuring astronauts will continue to live and work on the station
uninterrupted."

The
next manned Soyuz launch will follow an unmanned Soyuz
liftoff in mid-October, Russian space officials announced earlier
this week. An earlier report suggested the space agency was
targeting Nov. 12 for the next Soyuz flight, but that date has
been pushed back two days.

Three spaceflyers — NASA's Ron Garan and Russia's Andrey
Borisenko and Alexander Samokutyaev — are slated to fly home from
the station later today. Mike Fossum of NASA, Satoshi Furukawa of
Japan and Sergei Volkov of Russia will stay onboard the orbiting
laboratory for another 61 days, departing on Nov. 22.

According to the new plan, three replacement crewmembers — NASA's
Dan Burbank and Russia's Anatoly Ivanishin and Anton Shkaplerov —
will launch Nov. 14 from Kazakhstan's Baikonur Cosmodrome, and
dock at the station Nov.16. [ Photos:
Building the International Space Station ]

"We'll have a longer period of three-person operations and a
shorter than usual handover between the next two crews, but we
are confident that the crews will be able to continue valuable
research and execute a smooth crew transition," Suffredini said.

You can follow SPACE.com senior writer Clara Moskowitz on
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